Bhutan Takeaway: Personal GNH

(Source: Me)

I hate returning from vacation.  It always makes me depressed.

I really like my life in Singapore, but it can't compare to the joy of traveling.  I have a high need for freedom (see choice theory), and I feel the most free when traveling -- free from mundanity & minute grievances of everyday life.  

So, rather than immediately reentering normal life, I'm trying to digest Bhutan because travel births thought, as Alain De Botton eloquently describes in the Art of Travel:

"Journeys are the midwives of thought.  Few places are more conductive to internal conversations than moving planes, ships or trains.  There is an almost quaint correlation between what is before our eyes and the thoughts we are able to have in our heads: large thoughts at times requiring large views, and new thoughts, new places.  Introspective reflections that might otherwise be liable to stall are helped along by the flow of the landscape."

My thoughts are by no means revolutionary; nonetheless I think they are worthwhile to record.  Here goes my diatribe.

Bhutan was the last country to introduce television in 1990, which was 71 years after the United States.  Although this may seem unnecessarily slow to modernize, Bhutan carefully evaluates its development choices, learning from other countries' successes and mistakes in the globalization game.  It aspires to preserve its culture and core values as a country (see the pillars of Gross National Happiness).

I obviously don't run a country, but I am the master of my own life & development.

Rather than adjusting myself to fit in with societal expectation, I should be more like Bhutan -- carefully evaluating options based on my core values & the experiences of people around me.  It's really easy to get swept away in the tide of life.  As Alain de Botton states, it requires effort to create a life that will ultimately make you 'happy'.

"It isn't logical that 'being happy' should be any easier than, say, learning the violin - or require any less effort" - Alain de Botton  

(Source: Me)

So, what does that mean for everyday life?  It differs by person, but here's a few of my "pillars" for personal fulfillment:

• Less is more.  Collecting possessions weighs you down  
• Create, create, create.  "We should be building great things that don't exist" - Larry Page
• Aim to be a wide achiever. not a high achiever.  Pursue a breadth of skills, even if it slows down your career trajectory  (re: my post on bag of experiences)
• Consume carefully.  Nourish your brain and body with 'good food' (re: my post on ingesting content)
• If you don't like something, change it.  Choose action over passive complaining (see Holstee Motto)
• Pursue experiences. "I have decided to become reckless, to do and try everything because nothing holds me on earth, and I am not afraid to die.  I will live out my fantasies, intoxicate myself with people, life, noise, motion, work, creation, even if it means a shorter life, for life is not truly worth dragging out too long.  Perhaps all this which lies outside of reality is what gives joy." - Anais Nin 
• Love well.  "Love makes one embrace all races, the whole world, all forms of creation." - Anais Nin
• Stay motivated.  It's not money or status that actually motivates us; instead, it's sense of purpose, mastery & autonomy (see "Drive" by Daniel Pink) 

PS - If you'd like to read more on the philosophy of travel, check out this book: